Eugenio Álvarez’s late 19th-century painting depicts the moment when the people of Madrid rebelled on 2 May 1808 against the French army that wanted to take the Spanish prince and his family to France. Early in the morning, several groups of Madrilenians gathered at the Royal Palace. They knew that the French intended to take the prince Francisco de Paula out of the palace to France along with the rest of the Royal Family. After José Blas Molina’s cry of “Let them take him away!”, some of the Madrilenians stormed the palace gates. In this work, Juan Manuel Malasaña finds himself dealing a fatal blow to the French dragoon who had just murdered his daughter, the embroiderer Manuela Malasaña, who lies dead next to her rifle at the foot of the horse. The scene takes place on the corner of what is now Calle Daoíz and Calle San Bernardo, opposite the church of Montserrat, where the Madrid hero thrusts his broadsword into the side of the horse.
Collection: Images
Project: 6. Under a cloak of terror: violence and armed conflict in Europe.
Chronology: XIX
Scope: Secondary education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (365 x 207 cm)
Source: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Language: Spanish
Date: 1887
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: P006796
Copyright: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
Abstract: The Madrid uprising in the face of the French invasion in the early 19th century
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